Evaluation of Neutron‐Radiation Tolerance of Lithium Indium Diselenide Semiconductors

Abstract

Lithium indium diselenide (LISe) is a semiconductor that holds promise for neutron imaging sensor technologies because of its high neutron absorption efficiency and its corresponding ability to discriminate between gamma rays and neutrons. However, being a semiconductor, LISe may not be sufficiently radiation hard for practical application in radiation hard environments. Therefore, a systematic evaluation of the changes in material and electronic properties of LISe after high neutron fluence exposures is investigated. Herein, the characterization methods are utilized which included UV–vis, X‐ray diffraction, radioluminescence, Raman, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), current–voltage, and neutron sensing. Characteristics of LISe material that appeared in the literature are identified herein along with several that are expected to appear based on theoretical analyses. The results obtained show clear changes in the material properties of LISe after neutron exposure up to a fluence of 1016 n cm−2. However, LISe is still able to sense neutrons above the background at 1016 n cm−2, suggesting that LISe may be suitable for use in neutron imaging sensors at neutron imaging facilities.